Choking on Romney’s fairy dust

Richard Rychtarik, Las Vegas

Friday, Sept. 7, 2012 | 2 a.m.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a Mitt Romney economist who recently appeared on “Face to Face With Jon Ralston,” continues to sprinkle Romney’s economic fairy dust on us. I hope it isn’t too contagious because it can be fatal. Hypotheses like “we should have fixed the housing crisis first and that would have fixed the economy” are absurd and pander to those who were caught in the housing downdraft that began during the Bush administration. This statement is just another about face from Romney’s position of “just let the housing market run its course.” Apparently Romney has no idea how the banking system failed and what would happen when banks can no longer shore up their cash positions. And by the way, how do you fix a mortgage that is underwater by 50 percent and the homeowner has no job? Maybe free mortgages and free homes?

Then there is Medicare and the Romney/Ryan fairy dust vouchers that will save Medicare from death by a thousand cuts. Americans seem to forget that health insurance companies are among the few not covered under the Sherman Antitrust Act. Just ask yourself, how have our health care costs and services fared over the past three decades under America’s “competitive” private insurance system? Where were all those competitive cost controls that Ryan said we can rely upon going forward? Now we are going to have vouchers to buy private insurance? “ One thing that can save us from this fairy dust epidemic is vaccination by education. Hurry, hurry, and get it now because time is running out.